On Monday GAW Miners CEO Josh Garza announced the purchase of BTC.com for $1 million. The domain, which now points to a landing page, is to be a beachhead on the war to make bitcoin a household name and, like sex.com before it, the purchase garnered a lot of attention. But why BTC.com? And why $1 million? I spoke with Garza about his purchase. TC: $1 Million, huh? Where’d you get all… Read More

OpenBazaar is an upcoming open-source, decentralised, and unregulated online marketplace. Similar to other projects such as Open Transactions and DarkMarket (OpenBazaar is actually a fork of DarkMarket), OpenBazaar is often described as the “BitTorrent of eCommerce”, as it allows for an uncensored, peer-to-peer shopping experience with Bitcoin. Users will be able to buy and sell literally anything […]

Far from the glitz of the older Las Vegas strip, past a ragged Travelodge, and next to a smoke shop is a small bodega offering t-shirts, flip flops, and two sixteen-ounce bottles of suds for $5. It also has a Robocoin bitcoin ATM, the first on the Strip. It is a high-tech obelisk, seemingly placed at random amidst a parade of drunk men and women on their way from somewhere to somewhere else.… Read More

Join the Alliance of Austin Agorists this Saturday August 9th from 6 to 10pm at Brave New Books in Austin, Texas for their 8th networking party and counter-economic farmers market. They will host four Central Texas residents who have found success with enterprising agorist ventures. Speakers include Catherine Bleish (thebitmom.com, sovereignliving.com), Justin and Jessica Arman (mymagicmud.com, thelibertybeat.com), and Tracy Ward (facebook.com/paleotillas). Come ready to spend bitcoin, silver, FRNs, or barter at the market. Agorism is a concept coined by Samuel Edward Konkin III and is a social philosophy that advocates for peaceful revolution through voluntary interactions such as counter-economics. It has also been called revolutionary market anarchism. When asked about his organization, founder Joel Williamson stated, “The Alliance of Austin […]

Welcome to the CCN weekly altcoin news update, where we profile altcoin news topics that have gone under-the-radar. This week’s article discusses Ethereum, whose Ether presale is set to pass 50 million sold, Shadowcoin, who are releasing the first mobile wallet with full staking functionality, and CoinedUp, who are closing their altcoin exchange. Ethereum Presale […]

1. President Barack Obama ordered limited airstrikes into Iraq Thursday night. The aim is "to protect our American personnel and a humanitarian effort to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain without food and water and facing almost certain death," Obama said in a statement from the White House

2. The 72-hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas expired Friday morning and there are already reports of rocket already being from Hamas. This comes after opposing sides failed reach an agreement during talks brokered by Egypt. According to the Guardian: "Israeli officials said Hamas had rejected their offer to extend the ceasefire. Hamas did not confirm or deny the claim."

3. It's unclear whether the experimental drug used to treat two U.S. Ebola patients is even effective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns people not to be too optimistic. "We don't know if [the drugs] work and we can't have them in significant numbers," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, told a House subcommittee hearing, the Los Angeles Times reported. "I don't want any false hopes out there."

4. Following Russia's ban of food ports from the U.S., E.U., and other countries, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi warned that increasing tensions and sanctions against Russia "remained a risk to the fragile eurozone recovery and could have hit economy already,"the Guardian writes.

5. China posted a record trade surplus in July. "Exports in July jumped 14.5 percent from a year earlier — the fastest pace in 15 months, the General Administration of Customs said on Friday, doubling from 7.2 percent in June and roundly beating market expectations," Reuters said. Exports were stronger than expected even after pricing in inflated export data in early 2013, when firms falsified invoices to skirt capital curbs.

6. Australia's Foreign Julie Bishop warned of stronger sanctions against Russia if "Moscow fails to accept responsibility for downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17," she said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The broader sanction might include banning the sale of uranium.7. Hawaii is bracing for the approach of Hurricanes Iselle, which could become the "first hurricane or tropical storm to hit the island chain in 22 years," ABC News said.

8. Alex Salmond, the first minister arguing for the independence of Scotland, said that an independent Scotland "would use sterling even if a formal sterling zone were rejected by the UK government," the Guardian said. Salmond added: "It's Scotland's pound and we are keeping it."

10. Researchers have developed self-folding robots that shift shape and crawl without the help of humans. The origami-inspired robot have a huge number of design application from folding home structures to space satellites.

And finally...

A toddler caused a brief security lockdown near White House when she squeezed through the main gates. "Secret Service agents regularly close off the area due to suspicious packages near the White House, but pint-sized intruders are far less common," Reuters notes.

You may have heard about how XAPO is charging excessive previously undisclosed fees on their Xapo Debit Card, but what you may not know is that they will reimburse you for the third-party monthly fees, in Bitcoin! Though, aside from the $15 shipping fees, XAPO included a few other hidden fees they consider to be […]

The Wikimedia Foundation has soaked up 140k in bitcoin donations since accepting bitcoin donations last week. After some delay, it seems that the decision has paid off. The renowned public domain imaging site announced its partnership with Coinbase to accept bitcoins last week. It took a surprisingly long time for Wikimedia to warm up to donations considering […]